


The Problem

by ShyPumpkin



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: F/F, Heartbreak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-16
Updated: 2012-11-16
Packaged: 2017-11-18 19:44:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/564593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyPumpkin/pseuds/ShyPumpkin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marceline and Bubblegum are supposed to be on a date, but instead PB sees a whole other side of Marceline.</p><p>Inspired by "What was Missing", this is a brief exploration of Marceline and Bubblegum's history. Spoilers through S04E13a, "I Remember You".</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Problem

Marceline picked up a small red gumball off the embroidered plate in the center of the giant chocolate chip cookie table. She momentarily admired the careful placement of all of the tiny chips, which formed an intricate pattern of loops and swirls across the face of the massive cookie top. She tossed the gumball in her mouth and kicked back with her boots on the table. Just because she was in the candy palace didn’t mean she was going to act all stiff like freaking royalty.

_Then again, you are royalty._

She chuckled. Queen of the vampires was a pretty meaningless title since there were no other vampires in Ooo. A kingdom without a king was one thing. There were plenty of those, but a kingdom with no subjects?

_Just another way you’re unique Marcy._

“Let him go!”

“Huh?” Marceline looked down. One of the gumballs had rolled over and was apparently pleading with her.

“He did nothing to you! Let him go!”

“What? Oh!” Marceline quickly spit the gumball, which by now she had completely drained the red out of, into her hand. It rolled weakly over in her palm and spit dripped off of it.

“Why… me, Glob?”

Marceline dropped it back into the bowl with the others. “Oh geez! I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were… Ugh! Why are you in a bowl in the middle of the table if you’re not snacks!?”

“This is our home you monster! It’s where we live!”

“Okay! Okay, it was an accident. Just be quiet, alright? I’m on a date with Bubblegum and I don’t want to have to explain that I accidentally assaulted one of her subjects.”

The first gumball just moaned, but the second kept right on yelling in its tiny high pitched voice. “This injustice will not go unanswered!”

“Hey, you want me to chew you too? I’ll turn your whole family into a gross pink wad of chewed gum!”

“You wouldn’t!”

Marceline’s fangs emerged and her eyes turned blood red. “Try me! How’d you like to stick to the bottom of my shoe for the rest of eternity? If you know what’s good for you you’ll…”

The door of the royal waiting hall opened and Marceline sat up straight, fangs retracted. Princess Bubblegum entered followed by three banana guards. The princess looked excited, “So you’ve got him safely in the candy dungeon?”

“Yes you’re majesty. And the crown is under tight lock and key.”

“That’s good. I want that crown to be encased in twenty tons of hard candy and lowered into the chocolate fondue pits. It’s time to put an end to his constant assault on this sovereign kingdom once and for all.”

“As you command, your majesty.”

The grumpy gumball started to speak, but Marceline’s eyes pinned it with sheer malice and it closed its mouth tight.

Bubblegum turned to Marceline and Marceline straightened up again. “Sorry Marceline, I’ll be ready for our date in just a few minutes. There’s just one more thing I have to attend to before I can leave.”

“No problem.”

“Thank you.” Bubblegum turned to the banana guards. “Take me to the prisoner. I want to see him.”

The banana guards looked shocked and one of them dropped his spear, accidentally unpeeling one of the others. “Your majesty, are you sure that’s a good idea? He could still be dangerous!”

“I appreciate your concern, but he should be harmless without his crown and I want to see for myself that he stays that way.”

“Very well, your royal highness.”

“Hey,” Marceline raised her hand and then floated into the air and flipping lazily upside down. “Can I come? I’m totally bored here. Also, dungeons… kind of my jam.”

“Sure.”

 

As they made their way down the spiral staircase to the dungeon Marceline admired the flickering torches and cold stone walls. She also noticed how closely the banana guards seemed to crowd them. “So… Bonnibel…”

Bubblegum interrupted her. “Marceline, you can’t call me that while I’m acting as princess. It sends the wrong message.”

“What, it’s your name isn’t it? Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum. It’s not even a real nickname. Should I start calling you nicknames instead?”

“Marceline, no!”

Marceline turned to float on her back, nearly kicking the banana guard behind her in the face. She let her head hang back so that her inverted face was right next to Bubblegum’s and her feet dragged along the ceiling. “What’s the matter PB? Peebles? Chewey?” Bubblegum stifled a giggle and Marceline smirked triumphantly. “Hey, why don’t you have any nicknames for me?”

“I do.”

“Huh? Like what?”

“Marcy.”

“That is so lame.” Marceline floated in silence for a moment. “Sweet cheeks.” She said and gave a mischievous smile. When this warranted no response she decided to move on. “So who’s this prisoner you’ve captured. Is he some sort of giant tongue monster, come to lick all the citizens of Candy Kingdom into a slobbery grave or is the Dental Hygeneticist trying to splice you with toothpaste again?”

“It’s not either of those. It’s someone much worse.” They had arrived at the entrance to the dungeon and the banana guard in front fumbled with some keys.

Marceline flashed her fangs in a big toothy grin. “Does this mean you’ve finally found a criminal you won’t go soft on? Finally learned your lesson with the door lords?” The dungeon door opened, and that’s when Marceline forgot to keep hovering.

One of the banana guards helped Princess Bubblegum to her feet. “Are you alright my lady?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you. Marceline, what was that?”

Marceline untangled herself from the banana guard she’d brought down with her when she tumbled down the stairs. “What was that? What do you call this?” She pointed at the massive cage in the middle of the room. Holding the bars of the cage excitedly, staring out at Bubblegum and Marceline, was the Ice King.

“Ladies! So good to see you.” He said. “It’s been so lonely down here in this dungeon. I’ve been trying to get Gunther to come and visit me, but he’s saying it would cost too much to fly out.”

Marceline’s rage was explosive. “He doesn’t have his crown! You took his crown! He needs that!”

Bubblegum couldn’t have been caught more by surprise at this outburst, but she did her best to maintain her composure. “The crown is what makes him so dangerous. Without it he has no powers!”

“Oh I wouldn’t say that.” The Ice King chimed in. “I think you’re underestimating my power…” His voice dropped. “of seduction!”

“Without his crown he’ll die. You’re killing him!”

“Well I’m sorry, but he’s too dangerous to just be let free!”

“Too dangerous!? He’s barely even coherent! He’s just a crazy old kook!”

The Ice King interrupted. “I have two questions.”

By now Bubblegum had regained her composure completely. She was angry, but her anger was cool, well trained. Marceline’s was red hot and wild. She put on her negotiating face, which she had crafted carefully to convey maximum importance and minimal personal investment. She’d always been very good at negotiating, and had done so on behalf of the candy kingdom many times. This was no different. “I’ll do what I can for him. It might be possible to harness the crowns powers to keep the Ice King alive without allowing him to tap into its energy himself.” Bubblegum said in a tone which clearly implied that this should be an acceptable solution to everyone.

“Do you have any other prisoners?” Ice King continued.

“Bunk that!” Marceline spat, and Bubblegum was genuinely unsettled. “There’s no guarantee you can even do that? And even if you could you’re still locking him up by himself forever! You can’t do that!”

“…And if so are any of them princesses?”

Bubblegum knew how to negotiate, but she also knew when negotiations were over. “Actually, I can. The Ice King is a criminal in this kingdom. His regular attempts to kidnap me, encroach on our territory with his ice powers and various frozen machinations, not to mention the number of other sovereign political entities with which the candy kingdom has alliances and which consider him to be an existential threat, all require that we imprison him here and not allow him to continue his reign of terror. Honestly, Marceline, I’m surprised you would even try to protect him. He’s clearly evil!”

There was an icy silence for a moment as Marceline’s face contorted into one of perfect hurt and rage.

“Third question.” The Ice King interrupted again.

“I didn’t realize your feelings on evil were so black and white!” Marceline stomped over to the cage.

“If the answer to my first two questions is yes, then can you bring them in here with me? I’m throwing a party later and I’ve got like no babes to invite.”

Marceline gripped the bars of the Ice King’s cage tight and pulled them apart.

“Oh, well. You can come too of course. I didn’t mean to imply…”

“Marceline!” Bubblegum cried. “What are you doing? You can’t…”

Marceline whirled on Bubblegum, “Where’s his crown, Bonnibel?”

The banana guards leapt forward, crossing their spears. “Don’t worry princess, we’ll protect you.”

Bubblegum waved her arms frantically. “No, that’s not…" 

She was interrupted as Marceline swiftly transformed into a tentacle monster and swatted the guards aside. “Answer the question princess!” but the princess couldn’t answer. She was frozen in terror. It’s not clear what would have happened next if Princess Bubblegum’s eyes hadn’t instinctively darted toward the safe, hidden in the corner of the room, but it may have been a very fortunate accident. Marceline followed her gaze and tore the safe apart with two massive tentacles. She removed the Ice King’s crown and placed it squarely on his head. She transformed again into a gigantic bat monster and, crashing through the ceiling, flew away into the night with the Ice King clutched in her giant gnarled hands.

 

A few minutes later she had arrived at the ice king’s palace. She set him down in his bedroom. All of the blankets fell off of the bed as a penguin jumped out of it. It waddled over and hugged the ice king’s leg. “Wenk!”

Marceline, humanoid again, swatted at the penguin. “Gunther, I told you to look after him!”

“Wenk!”

“The candy kingdom! And they were going to keep him locked up in their dungeon forever!”

“Wenk!”

“Well then get Gunter to do it while you sleep. Someone has to keep an eye on him!”

“Wenk!”

“Prisoner in his own home? I’m just trying to…” Marceline paused. Ice King had gotten uncomfortably close to her. “What are you doing?”

“You’re very pretty.”

“Uhhh… thank you.”

“Just don’t turn back into that tentacle monster. Man you were nasty. Oh, and the smell!”

“Well screw you old man! I’m out of here!” She started to fly toward the window.

“Where will you go? Back to Bubblegum’s place? I’ll bet she’s pretty mad at you right now.”

Marceline thought of the princess’s frightened face. “She’s probably terrified of me.”

“Oh yeah. Totally. And believe you me, when you’re in the doghouse with that princess you are in the doghouse! She does not forgive easy.”

Marceline sat in the window, looking out at the frozen landscape.

“I mean, everything’s got to be perfect with that girl, you know? ‘Oh, I’m the princess of the candy kingdom. I don’t want anything to do with anyone not made of candy!’ Am I right?”

Marceline pulled her knees in close to her chest. “She’s not like that.”

“Yeah, whatever. I’m going to bed. It’s been a long day and I am pooped. Come on Gunther, let’s go brush our teeth and comb our beards.”

“Wenk!”

Marceline sat in the window for a few moments and then floated away. Her eyelids were heavy. Maybe it was time for her to go to sleep too. “There has to be something I can do.”

_Not tonight. You’re tired. Go home. Go home and sleep. You can make up with her in the morning._

Marceline looked around. Without thinking about what she’d been doing, she’d already started floating home.

_Already half way there. Just go to bed._

She floated into the tree house through the window and flopped down on the bed. A worm crawled out of a hole in the wall. “Hey Marceline. How’d it go?”

“Not now Shelby.”

“That bad. Well, whenever you want to talk about it.”

Marceline lay down in her bed and tried to sleep. When she couldn’t sleep she cried, and when she couldn’t cry any more she finally slept. When she woke up it was to the sound of knocking at her front door.

 

The princess stood outside the tree house in the summer heat. Her gown was heavy and much too warm for this weather. A worm crawled out of the ground right next to her foot. “Hey princess.”

“Hey Shelby.”

“I take it things didn’t go so well with Marceline last night.”

“You could say that.”

“That’s too bad. She really likes you.”

“Well, she’s got a funny way of showing it.”

“Marceline is complicated. It took a lot for her to ask you out to begin with.”

Bubblegum shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry Shelby. I really just want to talk to Marceline.”

“Yeah. No problem.” Shelby wriggled back underground, leaving Bubblegum to wait unhappily in the heat. Finally the door opened.

“Hey Bubblegum.” A tired, dejected voice emanated from within the tree-house’s dusty interior.

“Marceline?”

“Yeah. Sorry it took me so long to open the door, I was asleep when you knocked.” Marceline stood back away from the door, careful to avoid the intense sunlight.

“Oh, did you… sleep… well?” Bubblegum winced at her own awful attempt at conversation, but stepped inside anyway and closed the door.

“Not really.” Marceline threw open the cupboard doors and rummaged around inside. “Can I get you anything? I guess I pretty much just have red stuff, like apples… and Twizzlers. Do you like Twizzlers? I know you’re probably used to like, the royal treatment or whatever.” Marceline pulled a bowl out of the drying rack and filled it with Twizzlers. “Wait. What do candy people eat? Do you guys only eat candy… or would that be like… cannibalism, and do you never eat candy?”

“Marceline. I’m really sorry.”

“Oh geez, here it comes.” Marceline muttered under her breath.

“I’m not sure this… us… is a good idea.”

Marceline dropped the bowl onto the table. The sound of it landing was loud enough that it made Princess Bubblegum jump. “And there it is.” Marceline scowled. “Why not?”

“Why not? Seriously? After last night you’re not sure why maybe we shouldn’t date?”

“Yeah, okay. Last night was like, a total disaster, but I’ll make it up to you.”

“No Marceline, you assaulted three of my guards, you broke a high valued prisoner out of my dungeon and you threatened me. And what’s this I hear about you threatening to kill some gumballs in the royal waiting hall?”

Marceline viciously tore the end off of a Twizzler with her teeth. “That’s not even true. I mean, I never said ‘kill.’”

“I can’t protect my citizens with you around Marceline. The candy people need me to look after them.”

“Yeah, whatever. Your choice. No need to justify yourself.”

“That’s what I’m saying. I don’t really feel like it is a choice.” Bubblegum stepped closer to her. “Marceline, I like you. I want to be with you. I just…”

“Then do it!” Marceline grabbed Bubblegum by the shoulders so tightly that the princess almost tried to pull away. “Look, I’m sorry for threatening the gumball! It was basically an accident! And I won’t assault your guards anymore. Honestly, I don’t even have to come around the palace. And… and I would never hurt you!”

Princess Bubblegum started to tear up. She couldn’t breathe. She closed her eyes tight and turned her head away. “I just have responsibilities, and I can’t do my job with you around, and that’s a problem.” She gasped for air.

Marceline’s face froze in a moment of pleading. Her hands continued to grip Bubblegum’s shoulders so tightly that the princess winced with pain. After a moment that felt like an eon Marceline swallowed her sadness, but it caught and turned to anger in her throat. She dropped her hands away from Bubblegum’s shoulders. “Fine.” She turned and started to walk away.

“Wait, Marceline…”

“I’m just your problem. Can’t have one of those!” Marceline floated upward toward the bedroom.

“What? That’s not… Ugh, that’s not what I said at all! Marceline?” Bubblegum climbed the contours of the tree after her. Her dress made it nearly impossible to climb and it took almost a minute just to get up to the bedroom. “What are you even doing?”

“What does it look like?” A large duffle bag was laid out on the bed and Marceline was throwing things into it from across the room. She picked up her base axe and tossed it. It magically slipped inside the bag. “I’m packing.”

“Where will you go?”

“Who knows. Ooo is a big place. I’m sure I’ll see all of it before I feel like coming back here. What do you care anyway? Get out of my house.”

“Marceline, I…”

“I said get out of my house! Get out of here you cherry faced, crocodile teared, royal tease. Go run your perfect little world by yourself. Sorry I don’t fit into it!” Marceline transformed into a giant bat creature and slammed her fist through the wall above Bubblegum’s head.

Bubblegum ran for her life, out the front door. A few minutes later Shelby stuck his head out of the wall where Marceline had punched the hole. “Whoa. What happened here?” “The princess broke up with me. It didn’t work out. She said I was coming between her and her precious job.” Marceline continued throwing clothes into the bag. “Hey, where’s my black T-shirt? You know, the one with the snake, and the maracas, or kebabs or whatever.”

“You gave it to Princess Bubblegum.”

“Argh!” Marceline punched another hole in the wall. “So stupid!”

“So you’re leaving.”

“Yes!”

“For how long?”

“Let’s just say, don’t wait up for me. In fact, if something else moves into this place while I’m gone, don’t even worry about it. I don’t even know if I’m coming back.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing here that’s important to you?”

“I’m done with it Shelby. I’m done being angry or sad or responsible or irresponsible. I’m not waiting around for anyone to forgive me or whatever. I don’t need anyone. I’ve just got to get out of here. I’m just… I’m just gonna leave everything here behind and not look back ever.” Marceline zipped up the duffle bag and slung it over her shoulder.

“I doubt that. We can’t just walk away from our memories Marceline.”

Marceline’s feet lifted off of the ground and she donned a massive sun hat. “Yeah well, I don’t have to walk. Goodbye Shelby.”

“Hey, before you go. Could you like, take me outside. I’m actually sort of trapped where I am because of this hole.”

Marceline was momentarily thrown. “Oh. Uh, yeah. Sure.”

Marceline picked up the little worm and floated out the window. She set him down on a patch of dirt a few feet from the house. Shelby watched her float away and then shrink into a dot on the horizon. “Good luck your highness.” Then Shelby buried

**Author's Note:**

> I initially had some ideas about how I wanted this story to go, but as typically happens with my writing, the characters didn't exactly agree. Marceline was supposed to plead with Bubblegum for Ice King's release and then PB was supposed to feel like she'd put Marceline before her responsibilities, but as I wrote it just became so clear that Marceline is not the type to plead and Bubblegum would never actually do that anyway. Also, I used to ship these two characters, but now I'm pretty sure they're totally incompatible. That's not to say that they wouldn't ever GET together, but Marceline is too unstable for PB to handle and PB is too damn perfect for Marceline not to constantly feel judged, so I don't think they would STAY together. Sorry if I just sunk your ship. Misery loves company I suppose.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
